WinterIron one shots

Proposal

God, it hurt. Hurt. Like someone had ripped his heart right out of his chest, and he knew what the fuck that felt like, because he'd gone through it before. His genius brain couldn't help but replay what he'd just seen; Bucky on one knee at Steve's feet, holding up a little square box, the shape of which was familiar to every single person.

He rested his head on the cold surface of the wall behind him as hot tears welled in his eyes, his mother's words echoing in his mind, the same words she said after his first break up...

'If you love someone, let them go
If they come back to you, they're yours
If they don't, they never were'

For as long as anyone could remember, Bucky had belonged to Steve, belonged at Steve's side. He should have known. Maybe they'd had a thing, back in the day. Bucky'd never said, but Tony never asked, either. Not wanting to know, because Captain America was not a thing that Tony could compete with- a thing not many people could compete with- if anyone. He'd known that his whole life. But there'd been Peggy, his aunt....

So, of course, Tony was just the side dish, someone to kill time with until the spot at Steve's right hand was open again.

And now Bucky was laying a claim in a more permanent way. Jesus, was it too much for Bucky to at least have broken things off with Tony before moving on?

"Friday, get me a suit on the landing pad," Tony said, pushing up from the wall and striding toward the elevator with ground-eating steps. he couldn't stay here, not right now. And for the first time - he was prepared to leave everything behind - to start again. Because this reality was too painful. He didn't think he would be able to survive another heart break- betrayal.

——

Access denied

The hand-scanner beeped at Bucky, flaring red.

"What the hell?" Bucky stared down at his right hand as if he expected it to have also been replaced. The penthouse door had his print for almost nine months now. He still had a suite downstairs, where he kept a few things, and occasionally retreated to when Tony was in a mood....

"Friday?"

"I'm sorry," Friday said, her accent snippy, "but you no longer have access to this floor."

Bucky sank to the floor, disbelieving. What the utter hell was going on? He hadn't seen Tony all day; he'd gone for a flight in the Iron Man suit before even stopping at the kitchen for coffee, but that was relatively normal, sometimes Tony got a craving for coffee from a shop halfway across the world, and impulse control was still a thing Tony didn't have and don't have to worry about- he was a billionaire. And then there were the times where he put the lab on complete lock down because he had a break through and didn't want to be disturbed.

But Tony had left the lab without saying anything to anyone...  And apparently locked Bucky out.

What. The. Hell.

Bucky put his back to the wall right across from the door and waited. Friday would see him on the security cameras and eventually the AI would get tired of watching him; she'd tell Tony he was out there.

When the door slid open, it wasn't Tony at all, but Bruce, looking exhausted.

"Oh," he said, staring down at Bucky. His normal calm expression wavering on extreme annoyance. . "Haven't you done enough?"

Bucky squinted up, his sensitive nose picking up traces of whiskey. "Can I just --"

"No," Bruce said. "You can't. He's passed out drunk for the first time in months, and he's in no state to talk to you. You know, I wouldn't have encouraged this, if I thought you were going to --" Bruce waved his hands around.     "-- screw it all up."